Engineering-firm owner struck by truck in Upper Pittsgrove was on cell phone

UPPER PITTSGROVE TOWNSHIP -- State police said the president of a local engineering company hit by a tractor trailer while outside his car on Route 77 was on his cell phone when he stepped into the roadway, a report in The News of Cumberland County said.

J. Michael Fralinger was struck at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday near Newkirk Station and Colson roads, according to the report. State police aren't looking to issue any summonses against the driver of the tractor trailer, Sgt. Stephen Jones, New Jersey State Police spokesman, told the newspaper.

The truck driver told police that Fralinger was standing in front of his Acura talking on his cell phone, according to the report. As the truck approached, Fralinger apparently stepped out into the roadway near the center double solid lines and was struck, and the truck tried to drive out of the way to avoid Fralinger, the report said.

Friends remember Fralinger as winning a hard-fought battle against cancer, the report said.